For many the creation of a European “mega-platform” remains unlikely in the extreme (Guardian, December 2015). The stumbling block for some is fundamental cultural differences between Europe and the rest of the world. Others point to the failure of Quaero, and sale of companies like Skype before they reached maturity, to explain why a European “Amazon” will never be a reality (Financial Times, January 2016).

There are data heroes across all industries today who are crusading for better big data understanding in their organizations and beyond. These individuals are looking to the future and already anticipating the changes they need to make to give their organizations a competitive edge moving forward.

Tesco’s Clubcard scheme was a game changer when it launched in the 1990s, immediately demonstrating its marketing value by offering then Chairman Lord MacLaurin more knowledge about his customers in “three months” than he’d gained in “30 years” experience.

If focusing on improving customer experience is on your mind as a key strategic aim in 2016, then you'll want to spend some time with our top 10 customer experience (CX) predictions. Few businesses have yet managed to build or even identify the perfect CX roadmap. Our customers will not continue to forgive us for much longer if we don't hit upon the winning formula soon.

Forget Black Friday. Forget Cyber Monday. The ecommerce day making headlines in Asia and soon to make landfall in the West is Singles Day on November 11th. Originating in China, it started life as a counterpart to Valentine’s Day. Since 2009 however, Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, amongst others, has used the day to drive traffic between Chinese New Year and the end of summer.